The Politics of Opera in Handel's Britain

424 Pages·2013·4.2 MB·English

by  Thomas McGeary

more information - www.cambridge.org/9781107009882

The Politics of Opera in Handel’s Britain
The Politics of Opera in Handel’s Britain examines the involvement
of Italian opera in British partisan politics in the first half of the
eighteenth century, which saw Sir Robert Walpole’s rise to power
and George Frideric Handel’s greatest period of opera production.
McGeary argues that the conventional way of applying Italian opera
to contemporary political events and persons by means of allegory
and allusion in individual operas is mistaken; nor did partisan politics
intrude into the management of the Royal Academy of Music and
the Opera of the Nobility. This book shows instead how Senesino,
Faustina, Cuzzoni, Farinelli, and events at the Haymarket Theatre
were used in political allegories in satirical essays directed against the
Walpole ministry. Since most operas were based on ancient historical
events, the librettos – like traditional histories – could be sources of
examples of vice, virtue, and political precepts and wisdom that could
be applied to contemporary politics.
thomas mcgeary has written extensively about the reception
of Italian opera in eighteenth-century Britain and his editions and
translations of Arnold Schoenberg and Harry Partch received ASCAP-
Deems Taylor awards. His research has been supported by fellowships
from institutions including the Newberry Library/British Academy,
Paul Mellon Centre for British Art, and the American Handel Society,
and his articles on art, music, and literature in eighteenth-century
Britain have appeared in, among others, Music and Letters, Journal of
the Royal Musical Association, Journal of Eighteenth-Century Studies,
Early Music, Burlington Magazine, and Philological Quarterly.

The Politics of Opera in

Handel’s Britain

Thomas McGeary
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town,
Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Mexico City
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107009882
© Thomas McGeary 2013
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2013
Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by the MPG Books Group
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
McGeary, Thomas, 1948–
The politics of opera in Handel’s Britain / Thomas McGeary.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-107-00988-2 (hardback)
1. Opera–Political aspects–Great Britain–History–18th century. I. Title.
ML3918.O64M35 2013
782.10941′09033–dc23
2012029729
ISBN 978-1-107-00988-2 Hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or
accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in
this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is,
or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Contents

List of figures [page vi]
List of tables [vii]
Preface [ix]
Notes on sources [xi]
1 Introduction [1]
2 Opera and political allegory: When is it an
allegory? When is it political? [12]
3 Politics in the Royal Academy of Music [57]
4 The opera house, allegory, and the political opposition [94]
5 Handel’s Second Academy [126]
6 Rival opera companies and Farinelli in Madrid [150]
7 Politics, theater, and opera in the 1730s [180]
8 The opera stage as political history [210]
Epilogue [247]
Appendices
1 Political affiliation and principal offices of shareholders of the Royal
Academy of Music, c.1717–22 [250]
2 Operas premiered at the Royal Academy of Music [258]
3 Directors of the Opera of the Nobility with political allegiances in
June 1733 [268]
4 Operas (and other works) premiered by the Opera
of the Nobility [272]
5 Hanoverian celebratory pieces [277]
Notes [282]
Select bibliography [372]
Index [401]
v
Figures

2.1 Title page of Numitore, produced at the Haymarket
Theatre, London, 1720. Photo: courtesy of the
Newberry Library, Chicago. page [21]
2.2 Title page of Teofane, produced at Dresden, 1717.
Photo: courtesy of the Sibley Music Library, Eastman
School of Music, University of Rochester. [23]
2.3 Title page of Ottone, produced at the Haymarket Theatre, London,
1723. Photo: courtesy of Newberry Library, Chicago. [24]
3.1 Title page of Radamisto, produced at the Haymarket
Theatre, London, 1720. Photo: courtesy of the Newberry
Library, Chicago. [64]
vi
Tables

3.1 Finances of Heidegger’s opera company, 1713–14
to 1716–17 page [62]
3.2 Bononcini subscriptions by directors of the Royal Academy of
Music, serving 1720–21 [75]
3.3 Composers of operas produced by the Royal
Academy of Music [79]
6.1 Attendance by Prince Frederick and the king and queen
at the rival opera companies [162]
6.2 Payments from Prince Frederick and the king to the
rival opera companies [164]
vii